THE UNITED NATIONS WORLD FOOD

Published purpose

January 12, 2011 – Refugees often live in difficult conditions for long periods of time, and rely heavily on an uninterrupted supply of international food assistance in camps where they are often confined for lengthy durations. While the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) plays the lead role in helping to ensure the protection and assistance needs of refugees living in camps are met, the World Food Programme (WFP) plays a crucial role in meeting their food assistance needs. Given the needs of other WFP operations, donors often overlook refugee programs. As a result, in many operations, rations for refugees are often below minimum standards. UNHCR and WFP have thus joined efforts to raise awareness on programming gaps affecting refugees, and to address acute malnutrition in humanitarian contexts. CIDA’s contribution is supporting WFP to address the critical food needs of refugees in Bangladesh, Djibouti, Iran and Syria, based on assessed needs on the ground. This support helps to ensure regular and uninterrupted access to an appropriate supply of food assistance for those that rely on WFP to meet their emergency food needs. WFP activities also focus on finding sustainable solutions to help build the capacities of vulnerable populations to meet their own food and nutrition needs.